The next time you embark on an all-American camping trip, bring some cooking inspiration from other countries. Here are 10 camping recipes from different cultures around the world, shared by some of the greatest chefs in the business.
10 Camping Recipes From Around the World
From Mexico: Braised Stew with Beer and Charred Chiles
After chef Diana Dávila, owner of Mi Tocaya Antojería in Chicago, IL, cooked this dish over a campfire at a farm in Illinois, she loved it so much, she put it on her restaurant’s menu. She braised wild boar, but you can use pork shoulder, says Dávila, a “muscle that’s going to be meaty and still have some fattiness that will cook down into the braise to give it texture and flavor.”
Braised stew recipe
Ingredients:
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 onion
- 2 to 3 poblano peppers, halved and seeded
- 1 head of garlic, chopped in half
- 3 pounds meat (pork shoulder, wild boar, beef, etc.)
- 5 12-oz beers (lager)
- 6-8 oz barley
- Spices, to taste (cumin, coriander, and black peppercorns)
- Bread or tortillas, to serve
Instructions:
Place vegetables—tomatoes, onion, halved and seeded poblano peppers, and garlic—straight on the grill, no oil, to char. Then, salt a hunk of meat (about 3 pounds), and cut into handful-size chunks. Add oil to a hot olla or pot over a campfire, then add meat to sear it. “You want it to really crust up,” she says, because “once that seared meat hits the beer, it gets the amino acids going and you get that flavor you want out of there.” Once it’s seared, pour in about 5 beers (Dávila likes lagers).
Roughly chop your charred veggies and squeeze out your garlic gloves, then add them to the pot. Top the whole stew with enough water to sit a few inches above the food (to allow for evaporation). Once it comes to a boil, add around 6-8 ounces of barley. At Mi Tocaya, Dávila adds spices like cumin, coriander, and black peppercorns, but says it’s delicious without them. Stir and check after 2 hours. “Bring bread or tortillas,” she says, “and eat it all day long.”